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Spine Surgery / Neurosurgery
Rafid Al-Mahfoudh
Mr Rafid Al-Mahfoudh is an appointed Consultant Neurosurgeon and Complex Spine Surgeon at the Hurstwood Park Neurosciences Centre and Royal Sussex County Hospital since 2015. He is honorary senior lecturer at the University of Brighton and previously honorary lecturer at the University of Liverpool. He is one very few surgeons with dual orthopaedic and Neurosurgical spine accreditation in addition to further specialist fellowship training in anterior skull base and minimally invasive neurosurgery in Adelaide and New York.
He was the highest-ranking candidate in the PLAB exam for medical graduates. His training includes basic surgical training in Mersey Deanery followed by specialist Neurosurgery training in the Walton centre. The Walton Centre is the only hospital trust in the UK specialising solely in neurology, neurosurgery and pain services. This was followed by highly competitive subspecialist fellowships in orthopaedic spinal surgery in Brisbane and further sub specialist training in anterior skull base, pituitary and minimally invasive neurosurgery in Adelaide and New York (Weill Cornell Medical College).
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​He has extensive experience in treating the full spectrum of spinal disorders, pituitary tumours and endoscopic neurosurgical techniques. He has specialist interest in degenerative spine disorders, spine tumours, trigeminal neuralgia, hydrocephalus and brain tumours.
Mr Al-Mahfoudh has in-depth medico legal experience starting early in his career. He has been Medico legal expert with an independent Medical Assessments Agency) in Brisbane, Australia since November/2013, this included assessing and calculating the resulting disability according to the AMA guidelines. His interest in this area motivated him to complete the AMA Guides 5th Edition Training Course in Brisbane in June/2014. He has successfully completed a variety of both personal injury and medical negligence claims relating to spinal disorders in addition to neurosurgical claims. These claims have ranged from calculation of whole person impairment as a result of a claim, causation, medical negligence and expert opinion on potential claims.
Mr Al-Mahfoudh has been the recipient of many awards, including a Nuffield scholarship, travel awards and presentation prizes. He has been invited lecturer by industry and international surgical societies.
Dr Al-Mahfoudh is active academically with over 40 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He has completed an MSc in Surgical Science and Practice from Oxford University. His dissertation is titled ‘Does the timing of surgery influence outcome in foot drop secondary to lumbar degenerative disease? A systematic review and meta-analysis’. He is also reviewer for the British Journal of Neurosurgery/ Global spine journal and operative Neurosurgery. He is associate Editor for the international Journal of Surgery and member of the British association of Spine Surgeons, Society of British Neurological Surgeons and European Association of Neurological Surgeons. You can read the full list of Mr Al-Mahfoudh’s publications click here.
Mr Al-Mahfoudh strives to continuously update his knowledge and skills through attendance at yearly national and international conferences, learning and adopting successful new techniques and teaching on courses. His practice is underpinned by an industrious commitment to quality of care and continuous professional development to ensure he remains at the forefront of his specialty and able to offer his patients the best possible modern management strategy.
Benjamin Fisher
Benjamin is a Consultant Neurosurgeon with subspeciality interests in neurovascular, pituitary and CSF disorders alongside a general neurosurgical interest. He has completed formal neurosurgical training in the West Midlands. This was augmented by a highly competitive Royal College of Surgeons accredited Neurovascular fellowship at Kings College Hospital, London, a second fellowship at Skull Base Neurosurgery at The Walton Centre in Liverpool and an Observership at the world-famous Barrow Institute in Pheonix, Arizona USA.He is the lead Neurovascular clinician at the Royal Sussex County Hospital having reconfigured the neurovascular service, and have clipped over 100 aneurysms, removed over 40 AVM’s and dealt with varied neurovascular pathologies of the brainstem and spine. He has been involved in the development of a regional neurovascular network and the provision of services for low volume, high complexity surgical procedures seen particularly in the neurovascular speciality.
He has been involved in several large international neurovascular trials as PI,
published widely on neurovascular topics, and regularly teach on the topic of neurovascular surgery to undergraduate and postgraduate audiences. I am also the units audit, education and training lead.
In summary, he has extensive training and experience in neurovascular neurosurgery, both clinic, academic and managerial making me well placed to provide an expert opinion on related topics.
